Three more days! This day I exited the Ross Lake NRA, passing Newhalem, then Marblemount and Rockport. My lunch in Marblemount was a plate of chicken teriyaki with gyoza - a typical lunch from back when I studied at UW. The lunch and its price tag both reminded me that I was getting close. I suppose, I could have kept going until Mount Vernon and the populated I-5 corridor.

In Rockport, however, I turned south, uphill, along the Sauk River. The next few days were going to be sunny, albeit cold, and I wanted to spend a bit more time in nature. Besides, camping was more accessible here. By evening I had dinner in Darrington, bought a few end-of-trip groceries, and stopped at a "closed" forest service campground to the south.